North Korea Allegedly Under Lockdown In Suspected Kim Jong-Un Coup

Trending News: Is This The End For Kim Jong-Un?

Why Is This Important?

The leader of the so-called world’s most secretive country is nowhere to be found and reports are swirling that he has been overthrown in a coup.

Long Story Short

A North Korean news agency has reported that North Korea’s capital is under lockdown and analysts suggest Kim Jong-un’s month-long absence due to illness from eating too much Swiss cheese (seriously), might be related. Meanwhile, a former counterintelligence official claims Un has actually been overthrown since 2013.

Long Story

It’s hard to determine anything as pure fact in a country with such tight journalistic control as the communist dictatorship of North Korea, but rumors are swirling about both the health of Kim Jong-un’s leadership in North Korea and his own personal health.

Credible North Korean news agency New Focus International reported that the communist country’s capital, Pyongyang, is under lockdown even for the country’s elites. A North Korean expert from Tokyo, Toshimitsu Shigemura, told the Telegraph: “This sort of action suggests there has either been an attempted coup or that the authorities there have uncovered some sort of plot against the leadership.”

Meanwhile, VICE News spoke to a former North Korean counterintelligence officer, Jang Jin-sung, who claims the country in the midst of a civil war and that Kim is only acting as a “puppet leader” since being overthrown in 2013.

However, Time is reporting that their own experts are suggesting Kim is simply sick and that there is no coup. Since September 3rd, Kim hasn’t been seen and he even missed a session of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament for the first time since 2011. North Korean state TV — known for its less-than-accurate journalism — reported that Kim is healing from hurt ankles after giving tours of the country’s factories. "Our leader walks the path of leadership like fire for the people, despite his inconvenient body,” went the narration.

But other, more credible reports, have suggested Kim is ill from gout, heart problems, or diabetes due to a a high-calorie diet including Swiss cheese he has smuggled into the country since gaining a liking for it while studying in Switzerland.

Answers for what exactly is going on may come sooner than later as October 10th is the anniversary of the Korean Workers’ Party. If the 30-something, basketball-loving, dictator doesn’t show up, expect questions about why he isn’t around to amplify even further.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: If Kim Jong-un is actually being overthrown, will North Korea bring in capitalism and/or democracy?

Disrupt Your Feed: How much information about North Korea is fact over fiction? That uncle being eaten by 120 dogs thing? That didn’t happen.